Artist

Sergey Shutov

I recently went to see the ‘Post Pop: East Meets West’ exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. There was a lot of great work but something that really stood out to me was a piece of work by Sergey Shutov. His piece of work ‘Abacus’ (2001) is an installation piece consisting of motored mannequins draped in black fabric.

This work was so captivating, making a strong statement about the world we live in. Even though religion and beliefs are something many people share, they also divide people, which is a paradox we all face.

This is something that is quite visible in my work and could be explored further. Certain beliefs allow people to gain a strong sense of identity and belonging, whether it be to a God, community or universe but at the same time can alienate people from other faiths or even within the same faith. Despite the tolerance of the beliefs or how similar the understandings of the essence of the belief are.

This is very relevant to what his happening in the world regarding ISIS. Many members are participating with a strong belief that they are abiding by the rules of Islam, although many other Islamic people disagree with what they are doing. Not only this but they are killing people of other beliefs because of what they believe, creating a very distinct divide.